Although women were not explicitly involved in the military until World War II, they were very active in the war effort during World War I. Many women served as spies, for and against the Allied Powers. Some of these women grew to great fame and one in particular even became synonymous with female spies.
An article preserved by a newspaper database, originally printed in the Daily Ardmoreite, printed in Ardmore, Oklahoma on February 13, 1918 both explains and also warns about the dangers of female spies. The article cites women as being far more dangerous than their male counterparts, because of the way they manipulated men into surrendering lots of information with a simple bat of an eyelash. The author even goes as far as to claim female spies as the most dangerous part of warfare, but also recalling that women were not at all a creation of modern warfare but had been dying for their loves for generations. These female spies were often accompanied by an older gentleman who knew much about the world and the way it worked, and in her pocketbook was a code book through which she would pass notes to her love on the Western Front of the German Army.
One such illustrious figure was referred to only as ‘Madame H’, who was as the article so eloquently puts it at the perfect age to be both a lover and also a spy. At the age of 35, she was no longer a questioning youth, seeking to discover what love really means and implies, but instead owned her sexuality in an almost irresistible fashion. Not only is 35 an irresistible age, but it is also an age where very little is concealed and therefore the height of a spies career as men withhold little information which can easily be recorded in the ladies room. This mysterious Madame H, is said to have been an informant to the infamous Franz Shulenberg, suspected leader of the German spy force, on his American mission, she is also known to have belonged to the Wolf von Igel spy nest. Little else is known about Madame H, only that she belonged to the upper class, had clearly received a superior education and was a beautiful brunette.
The article includes a few more stories of other female spies who provided their lovers abroad with information about America’s military forces, or the other way around helped their American lovers smuggle information to the front lines. These women worked and aided in the war effort in a very real, and dangerous way, proving that even if not directly fighting on the battlefront, women were crucial in the war effort itself, and have been for many wars before this one. Many women worked in factories, but some women did far more than that, by risking their lives to pass information and gather Intel for and against both sides of the conflict, even though many of their stories are unheard of today.
So afraid and aware of these female spies were people during World War I, that many magazines and newspapers printed warnings about and against them. One such satirical British magazine, Punch, featured several cartoons depicting the very real threat of German spies in a rather humorous way. Although the cartoons were very funny and exaggerated they cleverly suggested and approved of the anti-foreigner attitude of Britain, through parodied images displaying anti-German and also spy paranoia. One such cartoon printed in Punch on September 2, 1914 right before the war officially broke out illustrates a young girl whispering to her mother at a dinner table with her brother sat across from her, and a shadowy female figuring standing in the background. The text at the bottom of the page states explains that the young girl, named Ethel is asking her mother in a rather loud whisper if they will have to kill her governess because she is of German descent. This cartoon demonstrates not only the very blatant anti-German agenda of this particular British magazine, but it also alludes to the clear and present danger of female German spies. This cartoon gives insight into the largely accepted and widely spread knowledge that these spies existed, especially because it shows the child asking her mother, as if to point out that even the children knew of the dangers of potential spies.
The interesting thing about these two sources are the way they refer to and casually speak of the female involvement in the espionage and intelligence movements during World War I. This leads me to believe that the existence of female spies, and spies in general was widely spread and public knowledge. These sources are also provide great insight into the attitudes of not only the United States but also of the British towards female spies, and the way they were apprehended and whispered about. Not only were these women extremely effective and important but there were also a lot of them, which makes me also wonder why many people have never hear of or studied them. Mata Hari, whom is proclaimed as one of the most, if not the most famous female spy of all time is a character many people have probably never heard of. She is so famous that her name has become synonymous with the term female spy.
Also these sources, and these stories really do support the term world war, because everyone, even dignified ladies were involved in its progression. Even if women have been aiding in the war effort for generations and generations as nurses, spies, and ammunition smugglers. These sources also demonstrate the way women were absolutely crucial to the war effort, and not just in the work women did in factories while the men were away. Women had been fighting in wars way before the special women’s divisions of World War II were ever born.
Women have been an integral part of the war effort for generations but the female spies of World War I were an integral part of the war effort. They created mass hysteria and paranoia in countries such as England where the threat of German spies was on everyone’s minds. These dangerous femme fatales may seem to be the stuff of fiction but their real life stories are not only incredible but are also a vital untold narrative of the Great War.
“The Daily Ardmoreite. (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, February 13, 1918, Image 6.” News about Chronicling America RSS. Accessed November 24, 2015. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042303/1918-02-13/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=1914&index=1&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=spy woman&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=woman spy&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange.
Proctor, Tammy M. Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War. New York: New York University, 2003.
 Proctor, Tammy M. Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War. New York: New York University, 2003. Page 126.
 “The Daily Ardmoreite. (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, February 13, 1918, Image 6.” News about Chronicling America RSS. Accessed November 24, 2015. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042303/1918-02-13/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=1914&index=1&rows=20&searchType=advanced&language=&sequence=0&words=spy woman&proxdistance=5&date2=1922&ortext=&proxtext=&phrasetext=woman spy&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange.
 “The Daily Ardmoreite. (Ardmore, Okla.)
 Proctor, Tammy M. Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War. Page 14.
 Proctor, Tammy M. Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War. Page 37.
 Proctor, Tammy M. Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War. Page 36.
 Proctor, Tammy M. Female Intelligence: Women and Espionage in the First World War. Page 126
Holocaust, the word, originates from Greek words and originally was used to describe sacrificial offerings burned at an altar. Since 1945, people have used that word in a different term. During WWII, the murder of 6 million Jews (among other groups), was named the Holocaust. Adlof Hitler blamed the Jews for the downfall of Germany after WWI and Hitlers “final solution,” was put into motion.
By July 1939, Jews were taken from their homes and sent to ghettos. Jewish ghettos were surrounded by high walls and barbed wire. In addition to unemployment, hunger and poverty; the overpopulation problem made the ghettos a place of much infection. In late 1941, started the mass transports of Jews from the ghettos to concentration camps. While in the camps, prisoners were separated from family members and friends. The unhealthy and unable to work were immediately killed. The healthier prisoners, were put to cruel work. All the prisoners were extremely malnourished. In the death camp, Auschwitz, 2 million were killed.
Spring of 1945 German leadership was beginning to disintegrate and April 30th, Hitler committed suicide. Germany officially surrendered May 8th, 1945.
This picture came from the movie of famous ‘Oliver Twist’ in 1948. ‘Oliver Twist’ is the novel which the great Charles Dickens wrote and published in 1837-1838. His novel is praised as one of masterpiece in literature. There are a lot of reasons why ‘Oliver Twist’ is considered as masterpiece of British literature, but there is also one particular reason related with the Industrial Revolution. In this novel, Charles Dickens, who is famous writer under Queen Victoria’s era in 19th, describes British society realistic. Many characters in the ‘Oliver Twist’ are belonged to the poor class, so the major environments and settings in this novel also describe the conflict and life of poor class in the period of Industrial Revolution.
In the above picture, the kid, Oliver Twist who is the main character of this novel and movie, is an orphan in the workhouse. In this scene of the story, Oliver Twist asks with famous phrase in this novel, “Please sir. I want some more…” Oliver Twist asks for little more soup to eat because regular portion which workhouse offers is not enough for little kid. However, the response for poor child’s request was the violent punishment. Like many other masterpieces reflecting the society when it was written, this scene of the story describes various bad conditions in the period of Industrial Revolution.
The workhouse holds many orphans and takes care of them. However, the conditions around orphans including Oliver Twist is really bad. The necessaries which are provided to children is certainly not enough, and caretakers for children are also wild and ruthless. Unlike current world where guarantee children’s rights by the law, there was no protection for children who should be protected with proper cares. The adults do not consider children importantly because children, especially orphans do not have power from wealth when the capitalistic idea dominated the world.
Not only this scene but also various scenes in this story describes improper environments for children where do not guarantee children’s rights. For example, Fagin, the Jewish leader of orphans , made children to do criminal acts to make money and takes those money. Mr. Bumble of the workhouse, gives only oppression without pity to orphans, and there are other various characters show cruel condition for children in that period. When the bourgeois only focus on collecting money, and the society was fit into people who have money, people who do not have money became victims of the system in that society, and the society was more cruel for children who do not have money and physical power.
In the period of Industrial Revolution, the movement called the Luddite Movement was occurred by factory workers. People in this movement were afraid of new technologies because they think new machines in the factory from more advanced technologies will replace them and take their jobs away. Machines can do more works than normal labors, so original labors in the factory felt scary. That fear for losing jobs made labors to move on violent acts. They started to raid factories and destroyed machines. People who caught by polices argued that Ned Ludd is the leader of this movement, and the name of Luddite movement was named after the leader’s name.
The original Luddite Movement was weakened by the government’s strict punishments. However, the ideas being afraid of new machines and technologies is inherited to people in the present. Some people are still afraid of new technologies and try to avoid those. They oppose to technological innovations to solve current problems in the world such as environmental pollution, biological weapons and any problems which can produce danger threatening human beings.
In the present period, new wave of Luddite movement has became popular again, and people who avoid new technologies and follow the spirit of new Luddite movement are called as Neo-Luddites. The difference between old Luddites and Neo-Luddites is Neo-Luddites do not use direct violence to get rid of technologies, but both of them focus on the anti-technology.
Paul Josephson, the specialist on the former Soviet Union, described about Neo-Luddite in the famous TED lecture. He argues current large scale technological system irreversible human and environmental costs so everyone needs to be Neo-Luddites. In his his argument, various threats including terror attacks developed by new technologies can make human to fall in danger being based on his experiences on various regions including Siberia, Russian Arctic and Amazon.
“TEDxDirigo – Paul Josephson – Why We All Need to Be Neo-Luddites.” Youtube. Accessed Decenber 10, 2015.
“Professor Jeremy Black examines one of the most extraordinary periods in British history: the Industrial Revolution. He explains the unique economic, social and political conditions that by the 19th century, led to Britain becoming the richest, most powerful nation on Earth. It was a time that transformed the way people think, work and play forever.
He traces the unprecedented explosion of new ideas and technological inventions that transformed Britain’s agricultural society into an increasingly industrial and urbanised one. Why the Industrial Revolution Happened Here explores two fascinating questions – why did the industrial revolution happen when it did, and why did it happen in Britain?
Professor Black discusses the reasons behind this transformation; from Britain’s coal reserves, which gave it a seemingly inexhaustible source of power, to the ascendency of political liberalism, with engineers and industrialists able to meet and share ideas and inventions. He explains the influence that geniuses like Josiah Wedgewood had on the consumer revolution and travels to Antigua to examine the impact Britain’s empire had on this extraordinary period of growth.”
BBC News. Accessed December 10, 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pz9d6.
“Industrial Revolution.” YouTube. Accessed December 10, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhF_zVrZ3RQ.
Above is a short video about the 17th century Dutch biologist Antonie van Leeuwenhoek. He transformed the microscope into a scientific tool with his creation of more powerful lenses. He was the first to view microorganisms such as protozoa, and he laid the foundation for the field of microbiology for future scientists like Louis Pasteur.
The rise of the Northern Renaissance in Europe from the 16th to the early 17th century can be attributed to several factors. The first is the decline of feudalism. Money was becoming a medium of exchange, instead of land. Technology was improving in warfare and agriculture. Monarchies began to rise with the interest of eliminating feudal power, and many serfs were becoming free men. Feudalism was coming to an end in Europe and a new age was beginning. The second factor is the weakening of the Roman Catholic Church, which can be largely attributed to the rise of humanism. Artists became more interested in depicting the the perfection and flaws of humans rather than depicting religious figures in their work. The final factor is the invention of the printing press, which helped spread new ideas that had a huge impact on the Northern Renaissance. The mass printing of the Bible also helped give rise to the Protestant Reformation.
The Renaissance was a period of great advancements in the fields of science, and many great inventions emerged from this period that are still being used and improved upon today. One of the first notable inventions of the Renaissance was gunpowder, invented around 850 A.D. When the gun was developed by the English and Dutch armies sometime in the seventeenth century, the two inventions revolutionized weaponry- firearms and cannons quickly replaced bows and arrows. The first mechanical clock was invented early in the 14th century and it measured time in 24 hours. When Galileo discovered the pendulum in 1851, it improved the movement of hands on the clock. This gave birth to the modern clock, as now the average error in time on a clock varied only by seconds. Throughout each century of the Renaissance, inventions like these rose to pave the way for modern technology.
One of the most recognized inventions of the 15th century was the first printing press, invented by Johannes Gutenberg in 1436. It allowed books, pamphlets and other forms of literature to be mass produced and revolutionized how information was circulated in society. In 1496, wall paper was invented in the first paper mill in England. For the next 200 years, England continued manufacturing wall paper, allowing average citizens rather than just wealthy people to decorate their homes.
The 15th century was also the time during which Leonardo da Vinci created many designs which gave birth to modern forms of technology, such as early forms of the parachute and the helicopter. He also created an “armored car,” a vehicle equipped with many weapons that could move in any direction, and it became the precursor of the modern tank. His “33-Barreled Organ,” a cannon meant to be both fired and reloaded simultaneously, became the precursor of the machine gun. His intimidating design for a giant crossbow was one of the first examples of using psychological warfare. He created “revolving bridges,” which were meant to be a sort of portable form of bridges that armies could use to easily cross bodies of water. He created a very bulky early form of scuba gear, meant for surprise attacks on enemy ships from underwater. Da Vinci is also responsible for creating the world’s first “robots.” He made a self-propelled cart that was pushed by coiled springs and could be “programmed” to move in certain directions. He also tried his hand at making a “robotic knight,” which could move on its own through a system of gears and wheels connected to pulleys and cables. Inventions like these are what made the Renaissance the birth place of modern science, and they provided us the blueprints of modern technology.